A solicitor for nine former Iraqi detainees is to be investigated after
shredding key document at centre of inquiry into claims they were tortured
by British soldiers

A leading firm of solicitors which destroyed a key document at the centre of a controversial inquiry into the actions of the British Armed forces in Iraq is being investigated by the solicitors’ watchdog.

The document had the potential to stop legal proceedings in their tracks − saving the taxpayer at least £27 million − but it was shredded by solicitors acting for nine Iraqi former detainees.

It appeared to show that the men, at the centre of what is known as the Al-Sweady Public Inquiry, were members of an armed insurgency militia, not the innocent farmers and students they claimed to be.

Although the document was given to the London-based firm Leigh Day in 2007, it was not made public until last year. Remarkably, it was then destroyed the day before it was due to be handed over to the inquiry’s officials. The Telegraph can today name the solicitor who arranged for the destruction of the document as Anna Crowther, who works in Leigh Day’s international and group claims department.

The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) has begun an investigation into the incident which could result in Miss Crowther, 31, facing a disciplinary tribunal. If found guilty, she could be struck off and barred from legal practice.

For the past six months, the Al-Sweady inquiry has investigated claims that British troops tortured and maltreated Iraqi detainees following the Battle of Danny Boy in May 2004, when 20 Iraqis were killed after British troops were ambushed at an isolated checkpoint.

The document that could have halted the hearing was an English translation of an Arabic record which suggested that some of the Iraqi claimants were members of armed Mahdi Army units. In other words, it undermined their credibility and potentially destabilised their legal case; it also contradicted evidence they had given to the inquiry.

Although the contents of the document survived in other forms, it is believed that the destruction of the original handwritten translation has made it impossible to establish its true provenance, and therefore harder for the Government’s lawyers to establish its true significance in court.

The shredding raises important questions for Leigh Day, which has been paid £50,000 of taxpayers’ money for work connected to the inquiry.

Miss Crowther joined the firm in 2006 and her profile on its website says she is working with senior partner Martyn Day “on a number of claims arising out of Iraq following the occupation of Basra by British forces in 2003”.

The Al-Sweady inquiry has heard accusations that members of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders not only tortured and subjected the nine Iraqis to mock executions, but also that insurgents were killed in cold blood and the bodies of others mutilated.

The murder and mutilation claims were dropped after lawyers for the nine admitted there was no evidence of these. However, the inquiry’s chairman, Sir Thayne Forbes, is still considering the allegations of torture and brutality.

In its closing statement to the inquiry last month, the Ministry of Defence said: “On Aug 16 2013 the inquiry asked Leigh Day to confirm whether it held material that was relevant to the inquiry’s terms of reference. At that stage Leigh Day were in possession of an original English translation of the Arabic original.

“This was potentially of assistance in establishing the provenance of the documents. Arrangements were made for the inquiry to attend on Aug 27 2013.

“Ms Crowther was aware on Aug 26 2013 that the inquiry was due to attend the following day. On … the day before the inquiry’s attendance, Ms Crowther arranged for relevant documents (namely the translations) to be shredded.”

The MoD statement added that Leigh Day was now seeking to “maintain a claim for privilege and have refused to disclose further relevant information”. Mr Day told the inquiry he considered the letter was “privileged from inspection”. But the MoD took a very different view.

“This does not address the question,” its lawyers said. “He could have responded to the inquiry’s request by saying that he was in possession of relevant material but that he declined to grant inspection on grounds of privilege. Instead, he allowed the false impression to be created that he was not in possession of further material.”

Leigh Day said the original Arabic document was given to it in Damascus in August 2007, by a local leader, Khuder Al-Sweady, the uncle of Hamid Al-Sweady, one of the men killed in the Battle of Danny Boy. The document, which contained the names of the former detainees, along with the insurgent militia platoons to which they belonged, was translated locally and written up by hand into English, before being typed. The document should also have been sent, in November 2007, to another law firm, Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), which was to represent the former detainees at the inquiry, as part of the exchange of relevant documents to be disclosed to all sides. But it was not received.

A spokesman for Leigh Day said: “We have a copy letter on file to PIL, dated November 2007, enclosing a file of material, which appears to include the document. However, it is unclear whether that letter was ever sent to PIL.”

PIL admitted that if it had come to light earlier it would have reduced its chances of winning a High Court case forcing the Government to hold the inquiry and led to the men being refused Legal Aid to pursue their case.

Leigh Day maintains the document would only have formed part of the wider picture examined by the inquiry.

Its spokesman said: “We obviously accept this document is significant but it has to be weighed against the rest of the evidence which we have not seen or been involved in, we cannot therefore say how significant this one page is, in relation to the whole inquiry.

“As soon as the inquiry team served us with notice under the terms of the inquiries rules asking us to go through our files and produce all relevant material in our possession we did so. We have carried out a review and to our knowledge we have not breached any of the regulations that govern our professional standards.”

Leigh Day is bringing separate compensation claims on behalf of the Iraqis and dozens of other legal challenges in relation to the Iraq war.

PIL was paid tens of thousands of pounds to represent the men at the public inquiry. The bill, part of the £5 million legal costs for the inquiry, was picked up by the MoD, which also paid for the rest of the inquiry’s costs.